The mine
by Yaso Kuuhl
Summary: Some slaves manage to escape from the Caldera Ebony Mines and are being treated as outlaws afterwards. I had to invent some stuff to make it work though, but I am sure that it works out.


I originally wrote this story because I wanted to test out my writing skills. This being my first story ever, I cannot promise that it will appeal to the majority of readers. Additionally, English isn´t my native language so the grammar may be wrong in some parts, and I know that I cannot compete with most writers here but hey, gotta try, right? ;)

So, without further ado, I am releasing this to the public. It isn´t finished yet but I am currently lacking the time to keep writing. I do have some ideas, but real life is pretty much grabbing me by the balls ATM.

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_Chapter 1_

Anguis sat at the end of the bar in Shenk´s shovel in Caldera, thinking about the day that had passed. In his head, he was still in the slaver´s den near Caldera, killing slavers left and right with his bare fists. Sure, he was an argonian monk, and he vowed an oath to free every slave that he came across, but this fight nearly was his last one. He still saw the leader´s blade as it was nearly crushing his head, while he himself nearly tripped and fell. The only thing that saved him was a silver staff leaning against a wall. If he hadn´t managed to parry the devastating blow with it, he would surely have been killed, or worse yet, enslaved. "Sooner or later they will get me.", he thought. "It´s just a matter of time until I will be nothing more than…"

At this point, a dunmer female entered the tavern, who was wearing a black robe with a red spider attached to it´s back. Anguis didn´t even realize her at this point, as he was still deep inside his dark thoughts. "Is there something I can do for you?" Shenk asked, as the dunmer approached the bar. "Hmmm… not yet.", she said, shaking her head. "I am just looking around." Shenk understood and proceeded to sell flinn, matzte and sujamma to the other customers.

As the dunmer was strolling through the tavern, she realized Anguis sitting at the end of the bar. To her, at least, he must have looked really miserable, and after a brief moment she approached him, Anguis didn´t realize it.

"What happened to your face?" she asked promptly.

"My… what?" Anguis replied, as he finally realized that the dunmer was in the tavern.

She looked at him with a disgusting look. "When have you last been in front of a mirror?" she asked. "Most of you face´s left side is covered in blood!"

Anguis stared at her in disbelief, and finally looked around a bit. Most of the customers he was looking at either looked away or had the same expression on their face as the dunmer. "It´s a miracle that I am not yet arrested.", he thought, feeling a bit uneasy.

All of a sudden, the dunmer smiled. "Well, it´s none of my business.", she said. "But if I were you, I´d go wash myself real quick."

Anguis suddenly felt a bit uneasy. "Yes…", he mumbled. "I better go wash my face before I get thrown out of town, thank you." He was just about to stand up when he had the feeling that it would be important to know that dunmer´s name.

"What´s your name, sera?" he asked, knowing that he was impolite. She seemed to be rather amused than being angered though.

"You can call me Oriana if you wish, it´s been a long time since somebody called me by my real name.", she said, smiling. "Anyway, I have to go now. Have a good night, and stay out of trouble if you can." With that, she stood up and walked out of the tavern, into the night.

Finally, Anguis rented a room and did what the Oriana told him: He washed his face and made sure that no blood was left on it, then he laid down on his bed, and immediately fell asleep.

Around midnight, he awoke. It wasn´t because of a noise, a smell or anything else related to his six senses. He felt that danger was nearby, and as soon as he realized this a hand grabbed his throat, pulled him out of the bed and smashed him against the cupboard. Wood broke, he believed to hear his bones breaking and all of a sudden a steel dagger all of a sudden was pressed against his throad, and a deep voice said: "Stand up, but be silent! Do what we demand, and no harm will be done to you."

"Very funny!" Anguis thought. His head was still aching, and in his mouth was the bitter taste of blood because he bit himself into the tongue. Nevertheless, he did what he was told, knowing that a fast move might cause his enemy to attack.

"Go out of the room!" The stranger said. In the middle of the night, it was hard to realize, let alone recognize him. "But I am watching you."

Anguis did what he said, walked past him… and all of a sudden turned around and broke his attacker´s nose. A scream interrupted the silence, and before the thug knew what happened, Anguis sent him flying with a swift uppercut and turned around to run out of the room.

He never reached the narrow hallway.

The door was slammed into the lock from outside, and Anguis ran full speed against it, making him keel over. "Damn your hide to Hades!" the thug inside the room yelled as the door was opened again and a second one smashed a poisoned dagger into Anguis´ left arm. The last thing he realized was that his poison resistance did was useless against the poison that was used on him.

_Chapter 2_

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The first thing Anguis realized when he awoke was that he had a terrible headache. There was a metallic taste in his mouth, and he could not feel his left arm. He quickly looked after it to see if it was still attached to his body, and, fortunately, it was. He was lying on his back in a room that seemed to be some kind of office. As soon as he moved, two dunmer that appeared to be guards grapped his arms and forced him to stand up, but not without giving him a good kick into his side first.

"Stop that!" a voice suddenly shouted. "This slave can be of great value to me."

"So it finally happened…", Anguis thought. The two guards forced him to turn around, and a male dunmer was smiling at him.

"Well, it this isn´t the great Anguis!" he said in a sarcastic voice. "I admire your skills and your persistence, but as you see, it was all for naught."

Anguis just stared at him. "How do you know my name?" he finally asked. The dunmer smiled even brighter as he saw the puzzled look on his face.

"Well, the question you should ask yourself, which I am surprised you haven´t, is the obvious one: Who am I? Who made me, and for what purpose? I can tell you why you are here, lizard. This, my friend, is the office of the Caldera Mining Company, and I am here to check out our newest slaves. You seem to be in top condition, and I am sure that you will make for a fine miner. But, regarding your question… we have been observing you for some time now. Oh, don´t be surprised, we have agents all over Vvardenfell who are disguised as shopkeepers, guild-guides, smiths… you name it. Now that this is out of the way, let´s get straight to the point."

"Who says I am going to work for you?" Anguis asked in a silent voice. "I´d rather try to kill you on the spot than having to serve you for the rest of my life."

"Who is saying something about serving me?" the dunmer asked. "Before you try to make a run for it… which would never succeed, let me make you an offer.

"I am not interested in your offer, whatever it may be."

"As I said," continued the dunmer, without taking notice of Anguis´ interruption, "we have been observing you for quite some time, _friend_. We know who you are, and what you are trying to achieve. For at least half a year, if it interests you. You have been wandering all over Vvardenfell, searching slaver dens and trying to free your brothers, sisters and those furred walking bags of meat. The best position for you would be in my little private army, not in a dark mine."

"So you want me to serve as your right hand, or what?"

"I am not wanting anything from you." Said the dunmer in a very serious voice. "I am making you an offer. If you accept, you are mine, forever. You will be my right hand and assist me whenever I need it. I am not promising you wealth or a great future, but everyhing would be better than having to swing a pick 18 hours a day, don´t you agree?"

"Who guarantees you that I don´t kill you as soon as I get the chance?"

"We have ways to prevent this, my slimy little friend. And even if you would succeed, you wouldn´t be able to come far. It wouldn´t take long for my employers to find another one who can take my position, and your sacrifice would be for nothing. I won´t ask twice. The decision is up to you. Will you serve me as my right hand, or as a humble slave? This is the choice I give you."

Anguis just stared at him.

"I have not expected anything else.", the dunmer said in a somewhat sad voice. "Take him away!"

_Chapter 3_

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Anguis soon realized where he was being leaded to: directly into the Caldera ebony mines. Knowing that any resistance was useless, he simply obeyed the guard´s orders and soon a bracer was being attached on his wrist, he was given some shabby clothes, and he was handed a pick. Anguis had a quick look around the tunnel. Several slaves, at least fifty, were working here, most of them being argonians or kha-jiit. But he also saw a few other races, including high elves and even one or two dunmer. "Don´t just stand around here!", one of the guards shouted. "Get to your work, slave!"

Anguis opened his mouth to give him the answer he deserved, but before he could attempt to say his first word the guard raised his hand and punched him right into the face. Anguis stiffled a scream, but was smart enough not to open his mouth again, and finally turned around and began to hit the ebony with his pick.

Even though he spent his first 10 minutes thinking about an escape plan, he dismissed the thought in a hurry. He had to concentrate all of his strength, in an attempt not to keel over because of the pick´s weigth, and soon the raw ebony became blurry. He raised his pick, and simply collapsed as his legs refused to carry the weigth of his body.

"What the hell are you doing?", one of the guards screamed and ran towards him. "Stand up and get back to work!" With that, he kicked him into the side and Anguis believed to hear his ribs breaking. But he didn´t want to stand up, he never wanted to stand up again. He wanted to… die?

"All right.", he thought. "Kick me to death if it pleases you, everything is better than having to endure this hell for even one more minute!"

But the next kick he awaited never came. Instead, the guard turned around with a disgruntled noise as another slave walked up to him. Anguis was much too exhausted to understand what they were talking about, but it was clear that they were shouting at each other. The slave, a nord, as Anguis realized, gestured into his direction, and after a few seconds a little miracle happened: the guard looked at Anguis in pure hatred, mumbled something and went back to his post. The nord attempted to help Anguis stand up.

"Thank you,", Anguis said, as the nord grapped his arm. "I…"

"Save your thanks for later!" the nord said in an angry voice. "Better get going. If he comes back and you are still not working, we all have to suffer!"

Anguis stood up and attempted to grab his pick again, but the nord just shook his head.

"Better go to the others and help them to chop the ebony on the ground. This way you can relax a bit until our shift is over."

Anguis nodded thankfully and did exactly what he was told, and about two hours later it all was over and they were ordered to go into their slave shacks. But the torture wasn´t over yet. It was a long walk, and they had to go up several hills before finally reaching them. Inside, Anguis sighed in relief and sat down, leaning against a wall.

He looked around. The shack was tiny. There were only two hammocks, and there was another person in the room, but Anguis wasn´t able to see clearly. Finally, he stood up and attempted to open the door, but, as expected, it was locked.

"I wouldn´t do that if I were you.", the person said. "You are just wasting your strength."

Anguis turned around. The person that talked to him was sitting on the ground, leaning against the wooden walls of the shack. Finally, he recognized him. It was the nord that prevented the guard from kicking him to death.

"I didn´t want to flee.", he said, not even believing his own words for half a second.

The nord sighed "Are you really thinking that I don´t know what you are thinking? I attempted to flee myself when I was new, just like you, but I have learned my lesson. I came quite far. Four steps, I believe, maybe only three. What´s your name?"

"Anguis.", he replied

The nord nodded. "My name is Ferguson of Greyfell… I think."

"You… think?" Anguis asked. He couldn´t really believe what he was hearing.

Ferguson shrugged his shoulders. "It´s been a while since I heard it the last time.", he said. "We aren´t allowed to talk down there, and I didn´t have a roommate for about 5 years. Anyway, it´s not important."

"Why did you help me down there then?"

Ferguson gave him a puzzled look.

"I mean, when everything is so unimportant, why did you chase the guard away?"

Ferguson looked at him calmly. "A little philosopher you are, it seems. But you are wrong. I didn´t chase him away to help you, I just realized that you are new here, and that you still don´t know how things are being handled down here. Besides that, if one slave fails to do his work, everybody of us has to suffer."

"Oh.", Anguis mumbled. "That´s why."

"Yes,", Ferguson said calmly. "That´s why."

Anguis didn´t say one more word. He just laid down on his hammock, closed his eyes and soon fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

That was his first day.

The second day was even worse.

And everything after that was pure hell.

_Chapter 4_

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In the end, Anguis wasn´t able to tell for how long he had been working in the mines. One month, two months, half a year… it didn´t matter to him anymore. All that mattered was to swing his pick like a machine, and to stay alive as long as he could. He was still hoping for a chance to escape, but the guarding system they had down in the mines was next to perfect. He created several escape plans, beginning from digging a tunnel to the surface from starting a revolt. He even tried some of those, but was captured every time, and once he was nearly beaten to death because of it. After that, he actually gave up and started to swing his pick like the machine he turned into, and maybe he would have been like this forever if she hadn´t shown up again.

It was just another day, and Anguis was swinging his pick against the ebony ore as usual. Meanwhile, he had seen many slaves come and go. Some were guided, and some were carried outside, but none of them ever returned. He never knew what happened to them, and he was sure that he didn´t even wanted to know.

"What about this new slave?" he could hear one of the guards asking as he was just lowering his pick.

"Well, what are you thinking?" another one asked. "Just a typical slave… a dunmer, to be precise.", then he sighed. "It´s just sad that we have to enslave our own people, but with the argonian and kha-jiit shortage, who would volunteer?"

"I certainly wouldn´t!" the other guard said. "The guarding duty down here is bad enough, I am glad that I even get to see the sunlight from time to time. But being a slave just like those flea collecting…"

"Where do you want her to work?" another guard asked, having a female dunmer in front of him.

At this point Anguis looked into their direction. "Lead her into the second left corridor.", one of the other guards said. "I guess we have a free spot for her."

A picture materialized inside Anguis´ head, and all of a sudden, he recognized the female dunmer. "Oriana?", he mumbled.

Ferguson, who was working next to him, stopped his work for a brief moment and looked at him sadly. "You know her?", he asked, but Anguis didn´t listen to him. "Well, that´s a shame. It´s always hard to see…

"Oriana.", Anguis said again, and this time she simply had to hear it. Oriana raised her head, but her eyes were murky, and she just stared at him. Anguis saw a lot in her eyes: Anger, pain and hopelessness, but no sign of recognition. Then, all of a sudden, her eyes became clearer and she seemed to recognize him. "Do… do I know you?" She asked and made a step into his direction.

She didn´t get to make a second one. One of the guards pulled her back on her hair, turned her around and began to strangulate her. Oriana tried to get his hand off her troat, but just like Anguis himself she was punched into the face.

Something inside Anguis screamed out in protest. His brain shut off, and with a scream, he threw his pick away and ran towards the guards. He pushed one of them away, grabbed his steel sword with a quick reflex and managed to hit the other one with his bare fist who was holding Oriana, causing him to fall down. The other two walked backwards and seemed to be too surprised to attack him. Oriana fell on her knees and seemed to be unable to breathe for a moment.

"Stand the hell away from her!", he shouted, with his heart beating. Most of the slaves in the tunnel stopped their work to witness the spectacle. But Anguis realized that he surely would lose the fight that was just about to begin. The guard that strangulated Oriana stood up, raised his sword and attempted to get Anguis from behind.

Anguis quickly turned around, and the guard raised his sword. Anguis managed to parry it and about half a second later the guard was lying on the floor again, but that was more time than the other two needed. They grabbed him from behind and one of them pinned him to the floor while the other drawed his sword. It was obvious what he wanted to do.

"Leave him alone, you n´wahs!"

Oriana grabbed Anguis´sword, pushed away the guard that was holding him and he quickly jumped on his feet again. But it was just a matter of time until they would lose this little pinch. Their opponents were too well protected by their armour, and both of them didn´t really know how to handle a sword, let alone fight with one.

"Goddamnit!" Oriana shouted at the other slaves. "Come on, fight! Don´t you see that those darned guards are not invulnerable?" Her words seemed to prosper. Two or three slaves slowly raised their pick and walked up to them, but one of the guards raised his sword and smashed it against a rock, and the slaves quickly dropped them again.

Oriana smiled angrily, grabbed her sword tighter and glanced at the three guards. At least she wanted to put up a somewhat good fight before she had to die.

One of the guards raised his sword, screamed and ran towards her.

He never reached her.

Out of nowhere, Ferguson´s, pick came flying, hit him on the head and beheaded him, then all of a sudden all hell broke loose.

Most of the slaves in the tunnel, if not all, came rushing towards the two remaining guards and began to hit them with their picks. Many of them got wounded, but it weren´t only the picks that hit the guards. Oriana looked away in disgust. She could understand the reaction of the slaves, but that didn´t mean that she had to tolerate it.

Anguis looked at her. "I am sorry.", He mumbled. "I didn´t want have this happening."

"It´s all right…", Oriana mumbled, forcing a smile. "You wouldn´t have been able to prevent it." All of a sudden, she seemed to recognize him. "Hey, I know you! You are the argonian that was sitting in shenk´s shovel, right?"

Anguis nodded. He wanted to say something, but at this point Ferguson approached them. Anguis looked in his eyes, but he didn´t see what he expected to. No triumph, no victory, just a deep despair. And worse yet, he understood why.

With their little stand, they sealed their own doom.

_Chapter 5_

It became dead silent after the massacre. Sure, the slaves won, but the price they had to pay was enormous. Many of them were either injured or too exhausted to stand, and some were dead. Oriana took a quick look, seeing five corpses on the ground, excluding the three guards. "Hell of a first day!", she thought, but it wasn´t funny.

Ferguson and Anguis were still staring at each other, and for a moment, Oriana thought that Ferguson would jump him, but he didn´t… yet. He was just standing there, and all Oriana could see in his eyes was pure hatred.

"Thank you", Anguis all of a sudden said. "Without you, we would have been done for."

"What ARE you talking about?" Ferguson all of a sudden yelled. "Look around! See what you have done to us! Now we are really going to die!"

Anguis looked at him calmly. "And what is so bad about that? Don´t tell me that dying is worse than having to work down here forever."

Ferguson seemed to be stunned for a moment, then raised his hand and obviously wanted to beat the crap out of Anguis. "He is right.", a voice suddenly said. Ferguson lowered his fist and turned around only to look at the face of Oriana.

"I don´t know about you, but I am getting the hell out of here, with or without you.", she whispered. I´d rather die an unnecessary death than having to be a slave for the rest of my life.

He just stared at her. "Think about it.", she said. "A little chance is better than none, and you have seen that we can beat them if we really want. All we need now is a plan."

"We won´t make it very far.", he replied in a calm voice. "And even if we could get out of here, there are still guards outside. We cannot win."

"But we did!", she said. "Goddamnit! You took down a guard all by your own, with a _pick!_", how hard could it be?"

Ferguson sighed, then he was just standing there for five seconds, twenty seconds, a whole minute, but in the end, he nodded. Slowly, but he did. Then he sighed again. "If the leaders of this mine find out what happened, we are going to die anyway… all right, we can at least try to escape." He then looked at Anguis. "When does the next shift of guards arrive?", he asked him.

Anguis seemed to think hard for a second. "In about thirty minutes, maybe less."

Ferguson nodded, then all of a sudden smiled. "All right then.", he said, and with that, he gestured into Oriana´s direction. She understood and gave him her sword. "What´s your plan?", he asked, looking back at Anguis.

"My… plan?" he asked, not sure what Ferguson was expecting from him.

"You started this whole mess, didn´t you?", Ferguson replied, nodding. "I am sure you still have got a trick up your sleeve."

Anguis gave him a puzzled look. "Well…", he mumbled. "Do you think that you can fit in such a suit of armour?" he asked, pointing at one of the dead guards.

Ferguson seemed to consider it, then he nodded. "I can try.", he finally said. Those guys aren´t the tallest, and they are really skinny, but it should work."

He promptly began to collect the armour from one of the guards, and all of a sudden Oriana asked: "What about the slaves? We cannot simply leave them behind."

Ferguson looked at her, still collecting. "We will have to, I suppose."

"What?" Anguis shouted. "Are you suggesting that..."

"We can come back if we indeed make it," Ferguson interrupted him and began to put on the armour. "But in their current state, they wouldn´t be of much help. I mean, just look at them."

Anguis did it, but regretted it immediately. Most of them were wounded, and only three or four of them were able to stand. He hated to admit it, but Ferguson was right.

"All set," Ferguson said and put on the helmet. "How do I look?"

Oriana looked at him, all of a sudden giggled and said: "If I were you I would cut my hair. I am not sure that it will fit under the helmet."

"We will see.", Ferguson said and tried to put his hair under the helmet. It worked, but Oriana didn´t really seem to be convinced.

"Let´s get going." Anguis finally said. "We only have twenty-five minutes left till the next shift of guards arrives."

"We first have to clear the lower level", Ferguson replied, and all of a sudden got going. Oriana and Anguis hadn´t any other choice but to go with him.

After about two minutes of walking, they heard slaves swinging their picks against the ebony. "All right, wait a second." Ferguson said and took a quick look. Only two guards seemed to guard the slaves. "Oriana, do you have any magical abilities?"

"You must be kidding.", she mumbled, showing him the bracer around her wrist. "As long as I am wearing this, I am practically useless."

"Hmmm…" Ferguson mumbled. "All right, listen up." Not only Anguis realized that Ferguson seemed to think like a warrior.

About one minute later, a figure appeared next to the two guards. "Mar´sera.", Ferguson mumbled, hoping that the two guards would fall for it.

"What´s with your voice?" one of them asked, and the other one reached for his sword. "Caught a cold." Ferguson mumbled and coughed twice. The two guard relaxed, and Ferguson walked past them. "Say, has anything interesting happened here?" he asked, trying to catch their attention. The guard turned around to him. "With a swift gesture, he signalized Anguis to sneak up to them.

"No, and I don´t think that _anything_ interesting will ever happen down here…", one of them said, sighing. "And what about your sector?" the second one asked. Anguis still sneaked up to them without making any kind of noise.

"Well, we had some trouble down there, but…"

"Trouble? What do you mean, trouble?", the first guard asked. Suddenly, there was mistrust inside his eyes.

Ferguson cursed his own words. "Well, I don´t know.", he said, smiling. Maybe the slaves started a revolt!"

The two guards were looking at him for a second, then stared at each other, and all of a sudden began to laugh. It was the last thing they did.

Anguis´ fist came screaming from behind and broke the neck of the right guard. Meanwhile, Ferguson pulled out his sword and thrusted it in the gap between the helm and the cuirass of the second guard. All of that didn´t take more than two seconds.

"Good work.", Ferguson said and all of a sudden smiled. "Maybe we do have a chance." With that, he turned around and looked at the slaves, who seemed to be much too surprised to react. Meanwhile, Oriana came running from behind. "Everything is clear behind us.", she said. "Nobody seems to have realized us yet." Anguis nodded and then began to talk to the slaves in his native language. Oriana did the same with the kha-jiits, but she seemed to have slight problems. Anguis was sure that she could make the cut though.

"Is everything done?" Ferguson said, as they came back to him. "We told them to wait until one of us comes back to get them. If not… well, they won´t have to suffer. We are the ones who started all of this, after all." Oriana replied, trying to smile. It failed miserably.

"Well, look what I found.", Ferguson all of a sudden said, smiling brightly. Oriana saw a key in his hand. "Do you think that this is for…?"

"Only one way to find out." With that, he attempted to open his own bracer. Oriana screamed in glee as she saw that it worked.

"Thank you.", she said, as Ferguson opened her bracer. "It will still take some time to recharge my magical abilities though, but I will definitely be able to do it.

"We have done everything here that we could." Anguis said. "We have to hurry, only fifteen minutes left."

They managed to overrun four more guards, using the same strategy. "How many time do we have left?" Ferguson asked as he was cleaning his blade with a folded cloth he found. Fortunately, all guards were being dispatched.

Anguis thought about it, then all of a sudden was stunned for a second. "Only two minutes left.", he replied. "We might not be able to make it."

"God damn it! "Ferguson cried out lout. "All right, let´s make a run for it!"

They ran, and the tunnels didn´t seem to take an end. Anguis already thought that they would never reach the exit, but all of a sudden the outlines of a door materialized in front of them.

"That´s the exit!" Ferguson said, breathing heavily. "Come on, let´s hurry!", he yelled, running even faster. Anguis and Oriana had quite a difficult time to catch up with him.

The corridor didn´t seem to end, but the door was coming nearer. They were 100 meters away from it, then 75, 50… and all of a sudden the door opened and a three guards attempted to walk inside.

"Damn!" Ferguson screamed. "Don´t let them seal the door! When this happens everything is over!" he yelled and drawed his sword, attempting to attack one of the guards while Anguis had to deal with the other one.

They both underestimated them.

Even though the guards were surprised in the first second, they quickly recovered and pulled out their swords. The one in the middle turned around and ran back outside.

Ferguson tried to end the fight with his opponent as quickly as possible, but he was tougher than he appeared. He managed to parry his blows, faked a slash but quickly penetrated Ferguson´s left leg. He stiffled a scream and nearly lost his balance. Anguis didn´t have more luck. Without a weapon or any kind of armour it was difficult not to be simply cut into two halfs, and he had to spend all of his concentration trying to dodge the attacks. The third guard reached the door and was about so slam it into the lock.

It was Oriana who saved them.

Just as the door was being slammed into the lock, Oriana leaped forward and managed to get her hands between the door and it´s frame. A huge mountain fell on her hands and crushed them.

She screamed and bit herself into the tongue in an attempt not to fall unconscious. It worked, but the pressure on her hands became tighter, and she believed to hear the bones breaking. And she couldn´t expect any help either. Even if Anguis and Ferguson did manage to defeat their enemies, it was too far for them to reach her in time. All of a sudden, somebody screamed and Anguis yelled: "Get down!"

Oriana reacted instinctively, got on her knees and the guard Anguis fought with flew above her head, hitting the door. It was crushed under his weigth and both the guard and the door were flying outside.

And that was too much. Oriana fell down, tried to stay awake and fell unconscious.

_Chapter 6_

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"What´s the matter with her?" Anguis asked, looking down at Oriana and breathing heavily. Her face was pale, and she didn´t seem to breathe. "Is she…"

Ferguson got on his knees, turned Oriana on her back and quickly felt her pulse. "Don´t worry," he replied. "She´s alive. Those dunmer are tough." He attempted to stand up, but quickly dismissed the thought as his leg began to hurt like never before. With a scream, he fell down again.

"Damn!" he cried out loud, but managed to force a smile as Anguis attempted to help him stand up. "Just give me a minute to bandage my leg." He said, as he began to take off the bracers, pauldrons and cuirass of his armor. "You go to the slaves and tell them that we´ve made it. We might need every man who can wield a sword now."

Anguis turned around to do what he was asked, but looked back again. "Are you sure that´s all right?"

"Don´t ask, get moving!" Ferguson was about to scream, but managed to cool down. "I don´t want to be here when dozens of guards are coming for us."

Anguis finally and ran back into the mine, knowing that every second counted.

He passed the first tunnel when all of a sudden he saw a female argonian leaning against a wall, obviously heavily wounded. "By the gods, what happened to you?" He asked, as he was running towards her and bent down. "Are you able to walk? Can I…" The female argonian looked at him, and what he saw in her eyes hit him like a gigantic hammer. He didn´t see any sorrow, pain or hopelessness like in Oriana´s eyes, but some kind of… triumph?

He knew what would happen next and reacted instinctively, but it was too late. An iron short sword penetrated the right side of his torso. Anguis stiffled a scream, looked down and saw blood coming out of his ribcage, then he fell on his back as his legs all of a sudden refused to carry the weight of his body.

"But…" He stared at her in disbelief for a second, then it hit him like a pile of cliff racer crap falling from the sky. "It was too easy." He mumbled, and all of a sudden he knew that he would die now. "It was… much too easy!".

"Yes." The other argonian said. "That´s right". With that, she kneed down and attempted to slit his throat.

Oriana wasn´t unconscious for very long and awoke just about a minute after Anguis went down into the mine again. As she awoke, she all of a sudden had the urge to scream as her hands began to burn like fire. "Hold still." She heard Ferguson saying. "It will be better in a moment." Then, all of a sudden, the pain became worse and her arms began to ache, then her shoulders… and suddenly it was over. She sighed in relief, opened her eyes and saw Ferguson´s face above hers, and all of a sudden she had to smile. "Did we… make it?" She asked, looking at him hopefully. "I mean… are we free?"

"Not yet…" Ferguson replied, but smiled as he saw the disappointed expression on Oriana´s face. "Anguis just went down again to get some slaves to help us. I wonder what takes him so long though. It´s been over five minutes since he went down there."

Oriana didn´t say a word. She looked down at her hands and saw that they were bandaged. All of a sudden, she had a bad feeling. She stood up in a hurry, attempted to make a step forward and nearly fell down again. "I´ll go look for him."

If this would have been a movie or a story, Ferguson would have laughed, patted her on the back and said "We began this together, and we will end it together." But sadly, this wasn´t the case, and so he just sighed, looked at his wounded leg and said: "I´ll keep a lookout."

Oriana turned around and entered the mine again. The light sources inside began to diminish, and so it became significantly darker. She couldn´t see farther than about 10 meters, and the tunnels in there pretty much gave her the creeps. After all, she was about to be enslaved, fought for her life and nearly had her hands broken. No, this really wasn´t her day.

She passed the first tunnel and suddenly saw the outlines of an argonian standing in front of her. "Goddamnit, Anguis, what is taking you so long?" She asked in an angry voice as she approached him. "Hurry this up, we won´t…" Then she realized that it wasn´t Anguis who she was talking to. Not only was the argonian female, but she also had a blood stained short sword in her right hand. Oriana pretty much knew what had happened.

"You… you killed him, didn´t you?"

She just smiled at her, but Oriana could read the answer in her eyes. "That fool should have known better." She said.

Oriana could feel how something inside her broke. She simply couldn´t believe what she was hearing. "You dare to insult him?"

"He is history." The female argonian said. "Play with fire, and you get burned."

"Watch your tongue!" Oriana all of a sudden yelled, then she raised her hands in an attempt to incinerate her. Energy was flowing through her fingers, but the pain in her hands was too much. With a stiffled scream, she lowered her arms again, then the argonian rushed her.

Oriana made a step backwards and strafed aside as the argonian made a slash for her throat, but she wasn´t fast enough. The blade hit her arm, leaving a deep cut. Oriana screamed and turned around, looking at her. Her eyes were filled with paranoid intelligence. "I am sorry." She said. "I am really sorry, but I have to do it. If you were in my situation you could understand it.".

She leaped at her again, and this time, Oriana managed to evade the blow. She grabbed the argonian´s arm, used her speed to her own advantage and smashed her against the wall, causing her to drop the blade. Oriana quickly bent down and picked it up, then pushed the argonian against the wall, pressing her own short sword against her throat. "I win." She mumbled furiously, then quickly slit her throat.

As the argonian dropped dead, Oriana threw the short sword away and ran deeper into the mine, looking for Anguis. She didn´t have to look for long, as she soon found him lying on the floor. "Oh my god." She whispered as she was looking at him. Anguis wasn´t paralyzed, unconscious or anything else. He was dead. His throat was slit open, and it seemed to grin at her like a bloody mouth.

_Chapter 7_

The first thing Ferguson realized after he managed to bandage his leg was that all of a sudden it became darker. He looked up to the sky, only to see that it had become a whole lot cloudier, the sun was totally engulfed by clouds, and all of a sudden it began to rain. Lightning followed, and the rain became more… a lot more. After just a minute of standing there he was totally wet and he could feel the earth shaking because of the thunder, he literally was in the middle of a thunderstorm. "Well, at least we won´t die because of a blade if we make it out of here." He thought sarcastically. "We will drown before it can happen!"

He heard something behind him and quickly turned around with a silent scream, but it was just Oriana approaching him. "Don´t ever do that again!" he said, then forced a smile. "Where is Anguis?"

Oriana seemed to stare directly through him. "He is dead." She said in a monotone voice.

"Dead?" Ferguson didn´t seem to understand. "What do you mean, dead?"

"Dead, done for, slaughtered, massacred… take your pick." She answered and sighed as she saw his puzzled look. "They are having agents down there."

"… Agents?"

"Don´t you understand?" She nearly shouted at him, but managed to calm down. "We cannot stay here any longer. If we don´t get going we will be in the middle of a pincer attack, and I seriously don´t want that to happen."

"Oh." Ferguson replied. Just this one word, but it made clear that he understood, and that he was just as terrified as she was.

"Come on, let´s hurry!" Oriana said and wanted to run to the barracks, but Ferguson quickly grabbed her arm. "Wait!"

"What are you doing? Let go of me!"

"No, wait, maybe we can still do something for him. Maybe…"

"You have no idea!" she screamed and attempted to kick him, but he let her go as she was about to do it. "I have seen him, Ferguson. His throat was slit open and there was blood all over his neck. He is dead, don´t you understand?"

He just stared at her, but finally forced himself to follow her as she moved on.

They made their way to the barracks and, for some reason, there were no guards inside. Quickly, they attempted to climb the ladder, but Ferguson suddenly stared at the claymore that was lying on one of the guard´s beds.

"Hurry this up, will you?" Oriana whispered. "We cannot…"

"Just a second." Ferguson approached the sword. Indeed… it was his own blade… the one he had to hand over as he was thrown into the mines over 8 years ago.

"Finally, I have you again." He mumbled and made sure that it was undamaged, then threw away the steel sword he was wearing and put the claymore on his back. "Let´s get going, now."

They managed to reach the entrance to the Caldera Mining Company undetected, which was somewhat suspicious. Ferguson didn´t exactly have a good feeling about that. And he was right.

As they turned around to take a last look at the mines, the doors of the two guard towers all of a sudden opened and about half a dozen guards were running at them. "Damn it!" Ferguson cried out loud, then signalized Oriana with a gesture to run behind him, drew his claymore and awaited the guards with a grim look on his face.

"What in the world are you doing?" Oriana screamed.

"Somebody has to do it." Ferguson mumbled. "You sure aren´t up for it."

"And you aren´ either!" she shouted. "Damn it, this isn´t the time to play the hero, come on!"

She didn´t really count on it, but Ferguson looked at her for a second, then looked back at the guards. Suddenly, the grim expression on his face disappeared and he turned around and hauled ass.

The guards chased them down the road, and they were able to keep their distance for a while, but it soon became clear that they wouldn´t hold out for long. Ferguson´s wounded leg was aching like never before, and Oriana wasn´t in top shape either. Finally, Oriana slipped and fell down, sliding down the road and taking Ferguson with her. They crashed against a rock and quickly turned around, only to see that the guards were nearly there. Ferguson quickly jumped up and drew his sword.

It was pure luck that saved them.

All of a sudden, a flash of lightning hit the guards, sending them flying into various directions. Most fell off the mountain except for one, who was crushed by a rock that had the size of an adult ogrim. Oriana and Ferguson looked upwards only to see more rocks falling down.

"Oh my god, run!" Ferguson yelled and quickly pushed Oriana out of the way. They were lucky enough to find sufficient cover in a matter of seconds, most of the rocks didn´t even come near, but some nearly hit them, and more than once they were nearly beheaded as one fell down just about one meter next to them.

It never seemed to stop, but it did after a while. With a sigh of relief, they were leaning against the wall and looked back. The road was blocked by several rocks. It would be impossible to get rid of them for several days. Suddenly, Ferguson turned around and walked away.

"Where are you going?" Oriana asked, but he didn´t even look at her.

"I don´t mind…" Ferguson mumbled. "As far away as possible, that´s for sure. It still isn´t over, if you haven´t realized yet."

Oriana didn´t say a word. She looked back, then looked at Ferguson again and followed him.

_Chapter 8_

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Even though Ferguson was walking away in a hurry at first, he didn´t manage to endure it for long. Not only did his leg hurt, he had a terrible headache, and the scarfs he received while sliding down the road didn´t really help to brighten up his day either. It was still raining, various wild animals were roaming the area, and to make matters worse, Caldera was too far away to arrive there before dawn. So they did what they had to do: They simply sat down in the woods, killed a rat that happened to pass them and and roasted it´s meat above a simple camping fire. The rain had nearly stopped, so it wasn´t particularly hard to feed the flames with wood. All of a sudden, they saw the silhouette of a guar and it´s owner, who were obviously travelling to Caldera. It didn´t take long for them to be out of sight.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Ferguson all of a sudden asked Oriana. She just shrugged her shoulders.

"Well, it may be best to hide for a while, and after that…I don´t know. We might as well try to continue with our lives." It became silent for a minute, then she mumbled: "You do know that without Anguis we would still be down there, don't you?"

He stared at her for a second, chewing on his rat, but didn´t say a word. All of a sudden, he felt guilty. HE was the one who sent Anguis down there again, so he indirectly killed him. Not only that, but they also made matters worse by not freeing the other slaves. Simply put, they had failed.

"Maybe we should try to sleep" Oriana said in a disgruntled voice. "The way to Caldera is a long one, after all."

Ferguson forced a smile, threw away the rest of the rat and put out the fire. Soon after that they fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

All of a sudden, Oriana woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Her heart was beating, she was breathing heavily and her entire body was covered with sweat. She didn´t have a nightmare, at least she couldn´t recall one. But she did believe to hear something.

"What the hell was that?" Ferguson asked in a disgruntled voice, got into a sitting position and looked at her angrily. "You scared the hell out of me! What in the world is the matter with you?"

Oriana didn´t reply. She just sat there, opened her mouth to say something and stared _at something behind him._

Ferguson turned around and looked at the face of an assassin who was sneaking up to him. As he noticed that he was discovered, he gave up hiding, dashed forward and drew a dagger. Ferguson quickly jumped up and managed to evade the blow by strafing aside, but the assassin wasn´t an amateur. He turned around, quickly made a slash for his throat and nearly hit. To the scarfs on his neck came another one, and Ferguson did the only right thing: He grabbed the assassin´s arm, held it tightly and used his other arm to block the fist that was trying to punch his face. As they were fighting, it looked like they were dancing a drunken tango in the moonlight.

Oriana finally got her bearings together, jumped up and screamed: "Push him away!" As she was raising her arms. Ferguson let go of his enemie´s arm, sent him flying with an uppercut and dived out of the way. The assassin quickly stood up again, and Ferguson barely evaded the thunderbolt that found it´s way into the assasin´s forehead. Then he just stood there for a second like a statue, dropped his dagger and fell down with a surprised expression on his face.

Oriana felt how her hands began to ache again. With a sigh of relief, she leaned against a tree, looking at Ferguson who was lying on the floor. "Whew, that was pretty close." She said, then something slammed against her back and sent her flying, causing her to land on her face. She quickly rolled on her back, but it was too late. A tall figure appeared above her, nailed her arms to the floor with his knees and drew a dagger in an attempt to slit her throat. Ferguson screamed and quickly ran towards her, but he knew that he wouldn´t make it.

A high pitched sound was heard, then all of a sudden the pointy end of an arrow penetrated the assasin´s back. He looked at it for a second, then fell off Oriana. Both were too surprised to realize what was going on.

"Are you all right?" a voice suddenly asked, then the outlines of a wood elf appeared in front of them. He came nearer, and finally they could see him. He was of normal size, dressed completely in black and had a rather pleasant voice… for a wood elf, that is. His hair was long, in fact it was exceeding his shoulders, and he had a quiver on his back. The string of his bow was still vibrating a bit.

"Yeah, thank you." Ferguson said, as he reached Oriana and attempted to help her up. She looked at him angrily, pushed his arm away and stood up on her own, looking at the assassin. "That was a pretty good shot." She said. And it was no lie, the arrow pretty much penetrated his heart. She wasn´t really proficient when it came to marksman weapons, but she did know that in the middle of the night it is pretty hard to hit anything. All of a sudden, she smiled warmly even though her knees were still shaking a bit. "What´s your name?"

The elf looked at her funnily. Obviously, he was a little puzzled about her behaviour. "Matt." He said, then forced a smile. "Yeah, I know that this name isn´t really original, but I didn´t choose it. Actually…" all of a sudden, he looked at Ferguson, then at Oriana. "Wait a minute, I know you!"

"Are you sure?" Ferguson asked, giving him a puzzled look. "I am sure that I have never…"

"No, I know you!" The elf suddenly shouted. "You are the 2 outlaws they are looking for in Caldera!" With that, he quickly grabbed an arrow, armed his bow and aimed at Oriana. "To think that I helped you… but that will be changed soon!"

Oriana and Ferguson looked at each other. "So that dude we saw before was…"

"Exactly." Ferguson replied, then sighed, staring at the wood elf. "I wonder what Anguis would do in a situation like this."

Matt lowered his bow a bit, but not a lot. "You know Anguis?" he asked, obviously a bit confused.

"Yes." Ferguson replied, being even more surprised than Matt. "We have been… friends for while, if you want to put it this way."

"But what does he have to do with outlaws like you?" Suddenly, Oriana saw mistrust in Matt´s eyes, stronger than before.

"We aren´t outlaws!" Ferguson said loud, but quickly calmed down again. "You used to be friends with him?"

"Yes, I also was kind of his pupil. You said 'used to'… did something happen?" He lowered his bow a bit more.

Oriana nodded seriously. "I am sorry…" She said. "But it looks like he overdid it a bit… he is dead."

"What?"

"I am afraid she is right…" Ferguson said, feeling rather sorry for him. "Oriana saw how he was murdered… he didn´t have a chance."

"But… where did that happen?"

"In the Caldera Ebony Mines." Oriana explained. "You see… we used to be slaves up there, and…

"Dead…" Matt mumbled, dropped his bow and seemed to be rather stunned. "So you are… well, this explains a lot I think. You fled from the mines, didn´t you?" He sighed. "Poor Anguis…"

Oriana decided to talk about something else. "We are on our way to Caldera in an attempt to ask the guards for help. So if you want to join us…"

"I have to go there anyway, but… you wouldn´t be able to get inside."

"Why not?" Ferguson asked in a somewhat annoyed voice. "We can get there in a matter of hours, why shouldn´t we…?"

"Didn´t you listen to him?" Oriana interrupted him. He just looked at her. "We aren't slaves anymore, we are outlaws." She mumbled. "We might as well try to defeat an army of greater bonewalkers with out bare fists!"

It became dead silent for a moment, then Ferguson said: "I hate to repeat myself, but do you have any idea what we are going to do now?"

_Chapter 9_

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The plan they created was simple: Make your way to the argonian mission in Ebonheart, stay away from cities and battle your way through the wilderness. After all, Anguis mentioned the mission several times as he was working in the mines, so they gave it a shot. As they reached the city, they had to send Matt in there to get some hooded robes. He was lucky enough to find some and gave them to Ferguson and Oriana, then they attempted to walk through the gates. They found strolling through the city quite an adventuresome (read: stupid) idea. Many citizen were staring at them as they passed by, and more often than not a guard gave them a funny look. Staring at the floor all the time didn´t help either. Finally, after what seemed like forever, they found the argonian mission and quickly entered the building, being greeted by a very serious Im-Kilaya.

"Greetings, travellers." He said, approaching them. "May I inform you about what our faction is all about?"

"No need to." Ferguson said and uncovered his head. "Say, is this…"

"We are devoted to end slavery here in Vvardenfell once and for all." Im-Kilaya interrupted him. "To achieve this, we are always looking for people that are having the same goal as we do."

"We are…"

"Our members are always trying to change things for the better, and we are spread out all over Vvardenfell." Im-Kilaya babbled on. "You can find us in most cities on the island, and furthermore we are being assisted by…"

"Anguis is sending us." Oriana said. That wasn´t entirely the truth, but it wasn´t too far fetched either. Im-Kilaya actually shut up, then looked at her. "It´s good to hear something from him again. How does he do?"

"Well, this is quite a long story…" Oriana responded, then proceeded to explain the whole situation. It took longer than a whole hour, and Ferguson and Matt were having a look around in the meantime. During Oriana´s report Im-Kilaya interrupted her a few times to ask a question, he especially wanted to know how the leader of the Caldera Mining Company looked like. As Oriana told him about Anguis´ death, he was rather stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered from the shock. "… and this is the reason why we are here." Oriana finished her report. "We have been slaves just like most of your race, and we are being treated as outlaws. We thought that maybe you could do something for us."

"Very well." Im-Kilaya replied and seemed to think about something. "So you have been slaves in the mines for a while… it´s quite fortunate that you came to us, as we may be able to turn the tables for a while, so to speak. Say, have you heard of the Twin Lamps?"

"We indeed have." Ferguson said, being glad that Oriana finally finished her report. He could swear that his hair grew two inches before she was finally done. "And we would love to help. Hey, don´t look at me this way! Anguis is dead, Oriana nearly had her hands cut off and I was enslaved for more than eight years. That´s more than enough of a reason for me to make a stand.

Im-Kilaya just stood there and seemed to ponder about something, then he nodded as if he answered a question that he had asked to himself. "All right, follow me please." With that, he opened the door leading into the cellar of the mission."

"This is a tad too easy, don´t you think?" Matt commented. "I know that I never had the honour to be a slave, but this is kind of suspicious."

"What choice do we have?" Oriana asked and coughed. From all the speaking, her throat had become dry. "Look, we can go with him or we can go out of here again and be slain by a bunch of guards. On the other hand, we might as well hide somewhere and wait to be massacred by some wannabe assassins. Your choice."

That worked. Matt looked at her, grumbled an answer that nobody was able to understand, then they followed Im-Kilaya.

Outside, the assasins had already gathered.

_Chapter 10_

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Im-Kilaya was leading them downwards through a corridor that was illuminated by torches attached on the stone walls. They didn´t have to follow him for long, as he soon stopped in front of a wall and pushed a hidden button. The wall slid aside and a large room with about a dozen of argonians became visible, but that wasn´t all. Desks with geographic maps were put into the room and some argonians were studying them, others seemed to take a nap on improvised beds and approximately four or five of them were talking in a little group, obviously discussing something. As Im-Kilaya entered the room, a female argonian in a brown robe approached him. "Greetings, brother." She said. "How is the situation up…" Then Oriana entered the room, being followed by Ferguson and Matt.

"What are those soft skins doing here?" She said furiously, and all of a sudden it became dead silent. All attention focused on the little group, several argonians reached for their weapons and one of them even approached them, pointing a spear at them. "Maybe we´ve made a mistake…" Oriana thought as they were surrounded by about five of them. Ferguson quickly reached for his claymore, but was stopped by Matt.

"Hold your horses!" Im-Kilaya shouted as they attempted to rush them. "Those three are not what they seem to be."

"How can you say that?" The female argonian asked, pointing at Oriana. "They even have a DUNMER with them, and you are leading them directly into our base? What in the world is wrong with you?"

"I ensure you that we…" Matt began, but the argonian interrupted him. "Shut your mouth! We will decide when you will get out of here again… and if." Matt stared at her for a moment, but was smart enough not to protest. Then she glanced at Im-Kilaya again. "Well? I am waiting."

"All right…" Im Kilaya said and gestured at the argonians that were surrounding them. "But put your weapons away, you are only making them nervous."

Oriana could literally feel that the situation was on the very edge. One wrong move… nonsense, a _single _move, and the whole situation would escalate. Nobody dared to breathe at this point, but finally, the argonian nodded. "All right, do as he asks." She said, and it worked. Slowly, but it did. Oriana sighed in relief, and the argonian said: "Now get to the point."

Im-Kilaya told her the whole story, which was leading to another hour of simply standing around. After a while, the anger in the argonian´s eyes was replaced by dismay, and after he finished his report she looked at them again. "So this is why you are here…" She said after a moment of silence. "I am sorry for our hostility, but you sure understand our reasons. My name is Os-Mien-Dey, by the way."

"What an honour…" Ferguson muttered, but was quickly interrupted by Oriana before he could say more. "So, can you help us out of this or not?"

"You are coming straight to the point, I like that." Os-Mien-Dey said smiling, but she quickly became serious again. "I am sure we could do something for you, but first I have got a question for you: Do you want revenge?"

"I don´t think I quite understand…" Matt commented.

"We know that slaver of the Caldera Mining Company just too well." Im-Kilaya explained. "Please have a look at the map over there on the table."

Oriana approached it, but couldn´t see anything suspicious at first. Suddenly, she realized that a spot north of Dagon Fel was marked with a big red "X". "What does this mark?" She asked, pointing at it.

"Once a week, he is travelling into the mountains north of Dagon Fel." Os-Mien-Dey explained. "For this reason, he leaves most of his guards in the mines to keep an eye on the slaves. If you are able to take him out, this would help immensely to turn things for the better. Not only would you help us, but you also would help yourself too. Kill him and we will take care of the bounty on your heads."

"And if we deny you our help?" Ferguson asked. He had a feeling that it would be best not to speak at all, but he just couldn´t resist.

Os-Mien-Dey turned around to him and grinned, but it didn´t look funny at all. "Then we will treat you as slavers." She said calmly. "Do you want to know what we are doing with our enemies?"

"Calm down!" Oriana said as she felt that the situation was about to escalate. "Yes, we WILL help you if you help us, but where exactly is that base?"

"That´s the problem you see…" Im-Kilaya said, sighing. "We never have been able to…"

Suddenly the door was opened and another argonian rushed into the room, but quickly turned around to lock it in a hurry. "We are having problems!" He said, being totally out of breath. His clothes were covered with blood and he was injured heavily.

"Pull yourself together!" Im-Kilaya commanded, looking at him as he was leaning against the wall. "What´s the matter up there?"

"Assassins are coming for us." He said in a hurry. "At least two dozens of them!"

"Calm down!" Os-Mien-Dey said. "What are you worried about? They have been inspecting our mission for at least a year now, but have never found our base."

"I am afraid you are wrong with that…" He said with a worried expression on his face. "They are inside."

It became silent for a moment. "Inside?" Im-Kilaya muttered. "What do you mean, inside?"

Suddenly, something seemed to run full speed against the door. "Get back!" Matt shouted, then the door literally flew out of it´s frame and flew towards Os-Mien-Dey who was unlucky enough to be exactly in it´s way. It hit her on the head and made her keel over, then an assassin appeared out of nowhere and threw an axe towards her. However, he didn´t foresee Matt´s quick reaction. He caught the axe in mid air, used it´s speed to his own advantage and threw it back at it´s owner who was staring at it in disbelief for a moment, then all hell broke loose as the assassin dropped dead.

Suddenly about a dozen of assassins were pouring into the room, but the argonians reacted quickly enough to form a living barricade and a massive fight was going on in a matter of seconds. Ferguson drew his claymore and attempted to rush them, but Oriana quickly held him back.

"We have to get out of here!" she shouted at Im-Kilaya. "Is there another way out?"

"Yes, follow me quickly!" He commanded and ran to the back of the room. Oriana and Ferguson ran after him while Matt attempted to help Os-Mien-Dey stand up, but she pushed him away, stood up on her own and drew a dagger. "Traitor!" she screamed. "I knew that you would betray us! But that won´t do you any good, you won´t get away with this!"

"Are you mad?" Matt shouted. "I have just saved your…" He didn´t get to say another word. Os-Mien-Dey promptly attacked him. "I will kill you!" She screamed as she was trying to stab him. "I will…" Then he sent her flying with a quick uppercut, rendering her unconscious. Ferguson quickly ran up to him and carried Os-Mien-Dey to the back of the room.

"Hurry up over there!" he screamed. "Just a minute!" Im-Kilaya said as he was fumbling with something at the wall. "Two at most."

Oriana looked at the massacre, being sure that they didn´t even have half a minute left. And after a short while one of the assassins simply climbed over the argonians and rushed them. Ferguson laid Os-Mien-Dey on the floor in a hurry, drew his claymore with a disgruntled noise and quickly dashed the assassin. The whole fight didn´t even last five seconds.

"Finally!" Im-Kilaya said and a secret entrance was revealed. "Quickly, climb the stairs to the roof!" Matt dashed past him, and after having killed two more assassins even Ferguson had to retreat and followed him. Im-Kilaya looked at the fight. Only eight argonians were still alive, but maybe that was more time than he needed.

"You not!" he said and held Oriana back on her arm as she wanted to follow Ferguson. "What the…?" Oriana screamed, but Im-Kilaya quickly touched her on her forehead. All of a sudden, she believed to feel her brain melting as energy was flowing through her head. Oriana screamed, but the pain was gone as quickly as it had come. "What… did you do?" She asked, giving him a puzzled look.

"You will realize it when the time comes." He said. "Now hurry up!" He shouted and pushed her through the door, then quickly followed her.

Ferguson and Matt had already reached the roof. "Where the heck is Oriana?" Ferguson asked, staring at the narrow corridor.

The question seemed to some kind of a headword. Oriana appeared and everything became worse. She and Im-Kilaya were rushing out of the corridor with at least a dozen of assassins following them. "God damn it!" Ferguson screamed, quickly moved in front of the door as the argonian rushed past him and thrusted his blade into the ribcage of the nearest assassin, then made him fall down the stairs with a quick kick to the face. Matt quickly closed the door, locked it and leaned against it with a sigh of relief.

"I hope this door is stronger than the one down in your base…" Oriana said, but Im-Kilaya didn´t even pay attention. "Those cliff racers will transport you to Dagon Fel".

"Cliff racers?" Oriana asked. "What cliff…?" Then she looked at where Im-Kilaya was pointing to. Out of nowhere, three cliff racers were landing on the roof, giving Matt a good scare. He screamed and nearly fell off the edge.

"Wait…" Ferguson mumbled. "You want us to… _ride _them?"

"Don´t worry, they are tame and know where they have to transport you." Im-Kilaya said, as if that was sufficient enough to be an explanation.

"But they are _cliff racers_!" Matt screamed as something was bashing against the door. A bump formed inside the iron, they didn´t have a lot of time left.

"Well, it´s better than getting slaughtered…" Oriana mumbled and hopped on one of them. Contrary to their belief, it didn´t try to eat her. After a moment, Ferguson and Matt managed to beat their disgust and did the same as Oriana.

"What are you going to do?" Matt asked Im-Kilaya. "Don´t worry about me, I´ll find a way." He replied. "If you are successful go to the mages guild in Balmora and mention my name. Good luck to you!" With that, he commanded the cliff racers to fly away. Soon, the mission was out of sight.

Oh btw, special thanks go to these persons for letting me use their characters:

Fallenzeroskater – Ferguson

Carecalmo – Oriana

Bioturtle – Matt

Thanks a lot guys!


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